1. Technical Field
Decorative light objects used as home furnishings and user interfaces for the same are disclosed. The disclosed decorative light objects provide one or more aesthetic lighting displays or light shows. Disclosed user interfaces that fit in the base of a decorative object provide one or more aesthetic lighting displays or light shows through the decorative light object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various decorative illuminated objects are known in the art, which display one or more lighting effects. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,003 (“Schanberget”) discloses lighting systems for swimming pools, wall-mounted lighting systems, and window-mounted light-systems that include a processor that is configured to control a color-changing lighting effect generated by the lighting apparatus. Schanberget discloses that the lighting system may also include memory storing one or more lighting programs and/or data. The lighting systems may also include a user interface used to change and/or select the lighting effects generated by the lighting system. Schanberget also discloses that the lighting system may be provided with a plurality of LEDs controlled such that the light outputs from two or more of the LEDs combine to produce a mixed colored light, and that the lighting system may be used in a variety of larger scale applications such as indoor and outdoor displays, decorative illumination, and special effects illumination.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,914 (“Hoelen”) discloses an illumination system for illuminating a display device, comprising a light-emitting panel having at least one edge surface for coupling light into the light-emitting panel. The Hoelen illumination system further comprises a light source comprising a plurality of clusters of light-emitting diodes, each cluster includes one blue, one green, and one red LED. Hoelen uses a mixing chamber with a dimensional relationship to the arrangement of the LED clusters to achieve a uniform, non-dynamic light distribution.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0179355 (“Gabor”) discloses a battery powered electronic candle with a bulb, LED or other lighting source. A candle-emulating lighting source is contained within a transparent cylinder of the device with the contact plates electrically connected to terminals of a flicker circuit emulating board. The board is adaptable to LEDs of different colors (e.g., red, green, blue or yellow).
Other known lighting devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,308 which discloses a simulated candle, U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,186 which discloses a simulated neon light using LEDs, while controls for lighting display devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,719, U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,580, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0036424.
However, there are deficiencies associated with each of the foregoing lighting devices. For example, the known interfaces for the devices described above are not particularly versatile or user friendly. None of the above devices include a user interface that can be interchanged with a different user interface or a replacement interface that includes one or more new and different light shows stored in the memory thereof. None of the disclosed devices include a user interface or a memory card that may be easily removed and replaced with a new interface or memory card. None of the above devices include a user friendly interface that makes it easy to select a particular light show, that makes it easy to pause a show in progress or that makes it easy to adjust the intensity of a show in progress.
Further, none of the above devices include a remote control. Similarly, none of the disclosed devices include a wireless communication capability that would enable two devices disposed in a room or on a mantle to be synchronized with each other. None of the above devices are capable of downloading new information or light shows from the internet or from the memory of a PC. Sound is not an option with the currently available devices. The known devices are not responsive to environmental conditions such as ambient sound, temperature or light. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for improved decorative lighting displays.